Category: Snacks and Appetizers

We woke up this morning to the wonderful smell of apples.


Dehydrated apples.  So good!
Yesterday my seven year old daughter took charge of the apple peeler/corer/slicer and filled my dehydrator with apple slices.  She sliced a large bag of apples that were a little past the crisp, crunchy stage.  If you have a dehydrator, don’t forget to use it to preserve fruits that are just past the point of eating fresh.  When it’s a little on the ripe side, the natural sweetness of the fruit will be even better.

I love to dehydrate fruit.  I don’t put anything on it.  We’ve never had a problem with the fruit browning too much.  Just peel, slice and turn it on.  Sometimes I don’t even peel the fruit.  I always get wonderful results.  When I dehydrate fruit, I slice it up before we go to bed and it’s ready when we wake up in the morning.

It’s such a tasty, natural snack.  And today, it was a great snack to nibble on while we watched the first snowfall of the year.


Apples, anyone?

These are fast, tasty and sure to please!


Start by placing round won ton wrappers in two 24 miniature muffin pans (48 total) Bake in an oven preheated to 350 for 5 minutes.  Remove and cool.


In a skillet, brown 1 pound ground sausage with 1 pound ground beef.




When meat is cooked, rinse fat off, if desired, and place in bowl.
Add 2 cups shredded cheese.


Mix together.


Add 1 cup ranch dip (or 1 cup sour cream and 1/2 packet dry ranch dressing mix) Mix together and carefully spoon into won tons.


Sprinkle with cheese, if you wish.  Return to oven and bake for 10 minutes.


Remove from oven and using a fork, lift sausage cups out of baking pans.


And there you have it!  Perfect little bites of sausage and cheese, with a hint of seasoning and the crunch of the baked won ton.  These will go fast at your next party!

For a breakfast twist, try scrambling 8-10 eggs in a separate pan and mixing them in with the meat before filling the cups.  It’s really yummy, and will yield a lot more cups.

Sausage Cups 48 round won ton wraps 1 lb. ground sausage 1 lb. ground beef 2 cups grated cheese 1 cup ranch dip (or 1 cup sour cream and 1/2 packet dry Ranch dip mix) cheese for sprinkling over tops 8-10 eggs (optional, for scrambling and making sausage and egg cups) Put won ton wraps in mini muffin pans and bake at 350 for 5 minutes.  Remove from oven and allow to cool.  In frying pan, cook sausage and hamburger together.  Drain fat and place cooked meat in mixing bowl.  Add cheese and ranch dip.  Add eggs if desired.  Gently fill each muffin cup with mixture.  Sprinkle a little cheese over the tops and bake at 350 for 10 minutes.   Delicious!

I could eat this for breakfast, lunch and dinner!  I love this salsa.
It’s delicious, and a  great way to enjoy seasonal fruit.

Start with 1 cup diced strawberries.


Peel and chop 1 kiwi Then peel 2 apples.   Granny Smith is best, but I had gala on hand Core and chop the apples Zest one orange Add to the fruit mixture.


Squeeze the juice of the orange into a small bowl.


Add 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar.


Add 2 Tablespoons apple jelly and mix.


Pour over fruit mixture.


Mix gently.


Spoon into small bowls or dessert cups and serve with cinnamon chips.
Usually I make my own cinnamon chips by baking flour tortillas, but this time I decided to try it with Stacy’s Cinnamon pita chips.


The pita chips were a little too thick for my personal tastes, but the salsa still tasted wonderful.  This is such a delicious dish!  Later we used it as a topping for our homemade raspberry frozen yogurt, and it was heavenly.


In fact, this is so good you might want to skip the chips and frozen yogurt and just dig in with a spoon!

Apple Berry Salsa 1 cup diced strawberries 1 kiwi, peeled and chopped 2 medium granny smith apples, peeled and chopped zest of 1 orange juice of 1 orange 2 Tb. packed brown sugar 2 Tb. apple jelly cinnamon chips